1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fresh water flushing system for marine engines, and in particular to a fresh water flushing system that expels entrained sea water from a raw sea water cooling conduit of the marine engine whether the boat is in the water or out of the water, and irrespective of whether the engine is running or is shut off.
2. Description of the Background Art
Throughout the United States efforts are being taken to improve fresh water flushing systems for marine engines. The primary object of the invention is to allow the operator of a motor boat to flush the salt water entrained in the engine after the motor is turned off. Fresh water flushing is recommended universally by every engine manufacturer. Flushing fresh water in a marine engine prolongs the life of the equipment, lowers the maintenance cost, and protects the significant investment in the engine itself.
Current systems treat the cooling system as a single cavity, as opposed to a group of cavities, water pathways, and equipment. Traditional flushing systems currently available are time consuming, prone to errors, and in many cases just not feasible to use for commercial crafts or pleasure crafts. For example, most flushing devices cannot be used if the boat is lifted from the water by a davit or stored in a boathouse. Current flushing equipment usually requires the engine to be running and the boat can not be in the water. Under certain conditions, flushing the engine can be hazardous. The current flushing systems have limitations on convenience and reliability that make them user unfriendly. Most current systems merely relocate salt and mineral residues to another location within the cooling system.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,441,044 issued to Rodriguez discloses a pressure responsive flush valve for flushing marine engines.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,001,546 issued to Salisbury discloses a check valve having tapered side walls and being responsive to pressure changes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,067,770 issued to Fancher discloses a two-way pressure responsive flow valve having tapered side walls and further having a retaining cap with an "O" ring to effect a positive seal.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,267,959 discloses a check valve having a valve seal with an "O" ring mounted in an external groove and further having an inwardly tapered sidewall to engage the valve body to effect a proportional closing of the orifice in response to a pressure change.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,756,273 issued to Hangesbach discloses a valve plug having an axially tapered peripheral wall and an "O" ring oriented to form a tight seal when the pressure is reduced.
None of these previous efforts, however, provide the benefits intended with the present invention. Additionally, prior techniques do not suggest, the present inventive combination of component elements as disclosed and claimed herein. The present invention achieves its intended purposes, objectives and advantages over the prior art devices through a new, useful and unobvious combination of component elements, which is simple to use, with the utilization of a minimum number of functioning parts, at a reasonable cost to manufacture, assemble, test and by employing only readily available material.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fresh water flushing system to expel entrained sea water from a raw sea water cooling conduit of a marine engine whether the boat is in the water or out of the water.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a fresh water flushing system that works with a variety of marine engines including outboard engines, diesel engines, inboard/outboard engines (I/O), stern drive engines, jet skis, and the like.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a fresh water flushing system that can be easily retrofitted into existing boats.
It is another object of the invention to provide a fresh water flushing system that proportions the flow of fresh water to each subsystem and component of the cooling system to insure correct filling and draining of harmful minerals and salts and other residues from the cooling system.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a fresh water flushing system that can be easily incorporated as an Original Equipment Manufactured (OEM) component for newly manufactured boats.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a fresh water flushing system that will resist the corrosive effect of salt air and sea water on the fixed and movable working parts of the invention.
It is yet another object to provide a fresh water flushing system that will not impair the operational performance of the marine engine when the fresh water flushing system is not in use and operation and the marine engine is operating on the water.
A final object of this invention to be specifically enumerated herein is to provide a fresh water flushing system in accordance with the proceeding objects and which will conform to conventional forms of manufacture, be of simple construction and easy to use so as to provide a device that would be economically feasible, long lasting and relatively trouble free in operation, and provide superior flushing performance.
Although there have been many inventions related to fresh water flushing systems none of the inventions have become sufficiently compact, low cost and reliable enough to become commonly used. The present invention meets the requirements of the simplified design, compact size, low initial cost, low operating cost, ease of installation and maintainability, and minimal amount of training to successfully employ the invention.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.